Farooq Kperogi is an intellectual, and a person with a background in academia ought to write and form opinions based on empirical evidence rather than hearsay, especially things one reads online.
To write a piece about President Tinubu’s so-called “Lagos-centric Yorubaization Of Nigeria” and base it solely on one set of appointments (a Census committee) does not give much credit to Mr Kperogi’s credentials as an academic.
This is not the first time Mr. Kperogi is getting it wrong. He and I have been on opposite sides of the TInubu certificate imbroglio, where I went to Chicago State University on September 19, 2022, to verify the truth directly from the source, while he relied on what he read and heard and came out with a piece stating that the then Presidential
candidate forged his diploma.
Fortunately for him, after I debunked that theory, the British Broadcasting Corporation did a fact-checking story and also agreed with me that there is no evidence that Asiwaju fuddled his certificate, forcing Mr. Kperogi to write a counter article indicating that his initial assessment was wrong.
The membership of one committee cannot establish tribalism. It is intellectually lazy and a hasty generalisation to make such a conclusion from just one alleged example, which is not even accurate.
Before making that allegation, you ought to look at appointments holistically. Especially as Nigeria has an Order of Precedence list.
All of this started because of the appointments to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, but people like Farooq Kperogi fail to appreciate that Bayo Ojulari is not only a Northerner from the North-Central but also of mixed ancestry, as are many people from Kwara.
The Chairman, Ahmadu Musa Kida, is also a solid Northerner.
It is very easy to cherry-pick positions in the Federal Government, such as the Chief Justice of Nigeria, over which the President has no control, and other civil service positions, which are not directly appointed by the President, to create a false impression that the President is favouring a certain section of the country.
But when you take appointments made by the President and weigh them according to their ranking on the National Order of Precedence of Public Officers and Other Persons, it becomes clear that President Bola Tinubu is perhaps one of Nigeria’s most accommodating leaders, especially when you compare him with his immediate predecessor.
If you look at the National Order of Precedence of Public Officers and Other Persons, after the President and his vice, the President of the Senate and other Legislative leaders, the Chief Justice of the Federation and other judicial officers, and the cabinet, the top appointive position in Nigeria is the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
Under General Buhari, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation was Babachir Lawal and later Boss Mustapha, who were both Northerners like Buhari. Under Tinubu, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation is Senator George Akume, a Northerner.
Next is the Office of the Head of the Civil Service. Buhari appointed Mrs. Folasade Yemi-Osan from the North-central, while President Tinubu named Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack from the South-South to man that helm.
Then, you have the service chiefs and the heads of the various security and paramilitary agencies.
